EVENING BRIEF: Feb. 29, 2012

Go ahead and circle March 29. That’s the date Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has selected for his federal budget. You can listen to how he broke the news to reporters here.

If that’s not enough to turn the talk in Ottawa, the Conservatives also appear to have shifted their messaging on robocalls. “Where’s the beef?” Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked of the allegations in today’s QP. “Where’s the proof?”

Certainly there were lots of choice words and repetition in QP as the government switched from broad appeals for evidence to pointed accusations about an orchestrated smear campaign. What rhymes with smear? Perhaps parliamentary poet laureate Fred Wah will come up with something after his visit to the House this afternoon.

Plenty of rhetoric, not so many answers, lots of punditry. “How long ago did it become the practice not to even pretend to ask a question? This is beyond desultory,” Andrew Coyne said via Twitter of the non-debate in today’s QP: “I just don’t know what these people think they’re doing in there. It’s too rote to call it debate, too dull to count as theatre.” In his column today iPolitics columnist Michael Harris explains why robogate is not just about allegations of electoral fraud — it’s about fake photos, fake new Canadians and a deceit campaign against Liberal MP Irwin Cotler.

For the record, the premier of Ontario would like it known that he couldn’t be prouder of the work Canadians are doing “from coast to coast to coast” to strengthen this country. To be sure he’s all for the oilsands and a huge supporter of the oil and gas sector. “I work in real time,” Dalton McGuinty explained of comments made Monday that may have suggested otherwise. “Sometimes I may not self-edit before I go to press.” For the record, Alison Redford says Alberta still wants an apology.

Check by the site at 2:30pm Thursday for the fifth in iPolitics’ series of webcast panel discussions. This time, our panel of guest experts will tackle Bill C-30 and the relationship between the law, technology and the internet. Viewers can watch the discussion live or in archived form here.